This project involves a graduate student in cultural anthropology who will study the activities of people in Papua New Guinea who have left regional high schools before graduation to return to their villages. These "secondary school leavers" have participated in both traditional and Western forms of education, and the project will investigate the impact of this "Western" experience on the traditional forms of education. Methods include participant observation, in-depth interviews with teachers and students, a household survey of a local community, and participant observation and focused interviews at four regional high schools. This research is important because people from diverse cultures are engaged with "Western" style schooling all over the world, with varying degrees of success. Knowledge about how forms of classroom education differ and are similar to traditional forms of indigenous education will help educational planners devise programs to increase the chances for success of multi-cultural educational programs in other settings and nations.
